Monday, May 04, 2009

Phone BS

Good morning all. It's an overcast morning in the desert which keeps the temperature moderate - not cool not hot. But we don't get that glorious sunrise either. I think I prefer the sunrise!

Croft, from http://croftsmexico.blogspot.com/, asked about the new cell phones we got recently. Well, that's easy. We got the LG Shine and it is working out fine for us. Perhaps a little background is in order. Back in Florida we had a land line and two cell phones. We talked ourselves into the two cell phones because it is convenient while traveling to be able to call one another. Usually I will take the truck and go buy food and with the two phones my wife can call with any last minute additions to the list or whatever. We used AT&T's service and found it to be good almost everywhere we went. This time we decided to remain with AT&T because the service was good and because it allows us to keep 'rollover minutes'. Here in Nevada we don't have a land line and we find our telephone usage to be uneven. One month there will be a couple of birthdays and we'll use much more than our monthly allowance congratulating the lucky old people; the next month there are no birthdays and we are well under the allowance.

Our selection of the LG was based on the way we use our phones. Phone quality is the first priority; having an acceptable camera is second and price was third. We don't use the phone to text or access the internet or any of that wonderful stuff so we didn't care about those attributes. I do use it to take a photo occasionally when I've forgotten my camera. Consumer Reports was consulted and the LG got a good score from them on phone quality. The customer reviews on the AT&T site were favorable enough. The camera is a 2MP one that will keep me happy. Online the price was $20 which was acceptable - then we got a $50 rebate so the actual price was negative! Can't get much cheaper than that.

I still find the LG User Guide to be confusing at best but I like the actual phone. The Shine is a sliding model which is easy to open with one hand; the clam shell phones are more difficult for me to open. Call quality is very good and the camera is acceptable. It has a flash but it's not worth much. You can do more with the phone but we simply don't care. It does what we want. It is a little larger then some of the clam shell models but it is very thin which helps make up for it's size. All in all, we are very happy. Now, if it is durable enough to live in our house - that's the last question. You can be sure you'll hear me whining if the phones die prematurely.

Take it easy, it's dangerous out there.

1 comment:

Croft said...

Thanks Don. I need a phone that is unlocked as I have prepaid SIM cards for Canada, USA and Mexico that I simply stick in the phone as we cross the borders. This works out well for me. The main thing is that the phone is durable and carries a pretty good charge, We hardly ever use the phone, it is just for emergencies and for our son to keep track of us.

They sell unlocked LG Shine phones on eBay for $60 - $70 plus shipping.

The old Nokia clamshell is showing signs of wear. A couple of numbers are hard to press and the camera only works intermittently so it is time to think about replacing it. Thanks for the report.